. >> as a reality for republicans is that president obama has won a second term. in many ways he won the argument. now i'm sure he's thinking about history and legacy and he doesn't have to worry about being re-elected. that gives you a power that you don't have in the first term. but he's managed to box the republicans into a place you just don't want to be, where it looks like you're prepared to allow the middle class of america to get taxed from january onwards at at higher level to save the backsides of the wealthiest 2% of americans when 70% of all americans polled say we want the 2% to be paying more tax. that argument's gone, isn't it? >> yes, it is. look, the president can rightly say that he made clear during the campaign for re-election that this was the beginning of how he was going to deal with our national debt problems, raise taxes on the top 2%. he come in with the mandate, and now he continues to advocate it and it gets great support from the american people. i think it's part of a solution to our debt problem, but if you raise taxes the way the pr